Live in Manhattan and wish that your local government would be more transparent about its data and make it more easily accessible? Well, consider the request granted by a little bill dubbed as Introductory Number 29-A, whichMayor Bloomberg signed into law this past week. Apparently following in the steps of the White House’s Data.Govinitiative, the legislation lays out three ways the city will be“jumpstarting a comprehensive citywide open data policy.” The Department of Information Technology Telecommunications will be in charge of of creating a technical standards manual and posting it online to begin, serving as guide for the city’s agencies on how to handle and list any data that’s considered public domain. Bloomberg also has his eyes on developers, as part two involves getting any info stored online in “locked formats” released over the next year so that it can be used for creating applications. AsInformationWeek points out, this is something the city has been fond of, as showcased by its ongoing BigApps program. The third task will require the DoITT to make compliance plans with all of the city’s agencies to help them list all of their public data, with the end goal of listing it to “a single web portal by 2018.” Want to hear it from the man himself? Make your way to the press release just past the break.

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